Discourse markers

Discourse markers are very important to structure text or speech, to connect sentences in a meaningful and logical way. They are used to express contrast, reason, purpose, result, etc. Here you can find some very common discourse markers, their meaning and some examples.

by the way / incidentally

Used to change the subject, to say something that you have just thought and that doesn’t have to be connected to what was being said before.

Well, it has been a very productive meeting, don’t you think? By the way/Incidentally, what time is it?

I’ll try to fix my car this afternoon. By the way/Incidentally, do you still have that screwdriver that I lent you?

actually / in fact / as a matter of fact

Used to introduce information that might be in some way surprising or unexpected.

I don’t really like chicken. Actually/In fact/As a matter of fact I have only eaten chicken once in my life.

Everybody thinks he has a very bad temper, but actually/in fact/as a matter of fact he is very kind.

anyway / in any case

Used to return to an earlier subject after a digression, or to get to the most interesting point.

It’s not so strange to lose documents. It happens to lots of people all the time. Anyway/In any case, we finally found the passports in …